


Mini Novel

by milkofthebutter



Category: No Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 22:12:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15981569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkofthebutter/pseuds/milkofthebutter
Summary: Don't read this. It is for class and I didn't want to use google docs.





	Mini Novel

The air was smothering, stifling. Each breath was difficult, water in the air drowning. Never before had this place been so unbearable. Never before had she wanted to escape so badly. The urge to flee washed over her, nearly knocked her down. She hated this place. Hated it! She couldn't stay here any longer. She was suffocating in the night air, the waves lapping at the beach slowly crushing her. A breeze washed over her, whistling through the caves at the base of the cliff that overlooked the beach where she stood. 

The caves in question stretched for miles. They were a labyrinth of lava rock that had many curious tourists trapped as the tide came in too swiftly to escape. Their bodies washed up on the shore the morning after.

Ever since she could remember, she was warned not to enter the caves. Her siblings often dared to peek into them, calling her a baby when she refused. She was more in awe than afraid. Like how people were in awe of the power of a hurricane. Afraid, but amazed. Then one of them would dare the other, and to prove that they were not, in fact, a chicken, they would approach the mouth and disappear into it. One day, her brother didn't come back. The police found him two miles away, half drowned. He refused to talk about the incident and wouldn't get near the ocean since.

Her curiosity only grew. What had happened that was so drastic he was scared that badly? Still, she had not dare approach the caves. Until today. 

They called to her, telling her to escape, to leave the place that was killing her ever so slowly.

So she stopped resisting. She allowed the pull of the caves to drag her closer. She hesitated right at the mouth of the cave, but only for a moment.

Sand crunched under the soles of her shoes. The light from the sun faded quickly, and soon she had to feel her way along, dragging her feet to feel for dips or steps. The pulling led her through forks in the tunnel and her steps became more confident in the darkness. It was what caused her to run directly into a wall. Stumbling backward, she clutched at her head. The area right above her left eye smarted.

There wasn't another tunnel, but she was definitely still being pulled forward.

Maybe the way was blocked?

She leaned forward, hands splayed over the wall of rock. She took a step, hands on the wall, feeling for an opening. 

Her foot caught on a rock and she lurched forward, landing on her hands and knees. The sand had turned into dirt at some point, and small rocks dug into the skin of her palms. She leaned onto her knees to brush the rocks off.

Wait. 

She could see her hands, just barely. Where was the light coming from? She crawled on her hands closer to the wall where she had fallen. There! A small crevice was carved into the wall. It would be tight, but she could fit. She ducked her head through the hole, wincing as her shoulders scraped the sides. It got tight enough that she had to turn sideways and push herself through.

With one last shove against the rock, she stumbled into a circular opening. Light filtered in through holes the size of a fist in the ceiling, illuminating the cavern like a kaleidoscope. The room must be one of many pockets that filled the labyrinth of rock. When the tide was low, like now, had a beach made of small granules of the same rock that now surrounded her. The lava rock hung over a long, thin slice of the beach where the water entered. There was only about six inches of space between the rock and sand. Enough for water to enter freely, not enough to let any human through. In other words, it was a death trap.

Which is why when she saw the child lying motionless on the beach, she thought the worst. The little girl was curled up with her back to the ocean. She didn't seem to be moving, but as she closed the distance to the girl she could see faint motion in her chest.

Her skin was cold to the touch, her lips blue. 

Ah, what was it that her teacher had told her once? Strip wet clothes, warm gradually to avoid going into shock.

This child was surprisingly easy to drag up the beach. She clutched the girl to her chest and stripped her of her shirt and pants. She pulled her own sweatshirt off and covered the girl with it. It went down to the child’s knees. She angled the girl over the sand and started patting her back.

Nothing, for a minute. Then water spurted out of the little girl’s mouth, followed by coughs. She propped herself up on the rock wall, gasping for air.

The gasps slowly subsided and the girl sat straighter and looked around, eyebrows furrowed.

“Th-thank you.” Her voice was a bit raspy. “What’s your name?”

“Katsuko,” the elder replied. 

“Hello, Katsuko. I am Amelia.” Amelia sat up, seemingly recovered enough, and looked around. “Where are we?”

“Lava caves, just off the coast.” 

Speaking of which, waves were washing into the small cavern with nightfall. Soon enough this room would be under water.

Katsuko stood, grabbed Amelia’s wet clothes, and took her hand. “Come on, we need to go.”

Amelia obediently took the hand offered her and followed Katsuko through the nearly invisible hole in the wall. When they emerged from the caves, the water was up to their ankles. The sun was on its descent down the sky.

“Wow!” exclaimed Amelia. “So pretty! Look at the clouds!”

Katsuko looked. The sky was painted purple and blue, but she didn’t see anything particularly amazing about it. It looked like it did every night. She told Amelia so.

“What?” Amelia gasped, twirling to face Katsuko, arms outstretched.. “It’s gorgeous! Look at the colors. It looks like a painting. And the sound of the waves crashing against the shore, isn't it so relaxing?” She tilted her face back, basking in the fading light of the sun.

A breeze swept across the beach and a shudder ran through Amelia’s small body.

How could Katsuko forget? The girl was only wearing a sweatshirt. She needed to get to a hospital to be checked out.

“Come on,” Katsuko began to trudge up the sandy hill to the parking lot.

“Where are we going?” Amelia skipped past Katsuko and turned to look at the elder.

“The hospital.”

Amelia pouted, falling into step with Katsuko. “Do I have to?”

“Yes,” Katsuko answered. “You nearly drowned. We need to make sure there is no water in your lungs.”

“Ooor we could do something else. Like exploring!” She jumped excitedly, waving her arms around.

Katsuko stopped and stared at Amelia. “We are going to the hospital,” she said. The look on her face said that they were going, no matter what. She continued walking.

Amelia grabbed the edge of her sleeve. “Please?” Her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t want to go.”

Katsuko hesitated. Amelia had recovered quickly. Abnormally fast. She wasn’t coughing and didn’t have any negative symptoms, as far as Katsuko could tell. And Katsuko really didn’t know how to handle children, much less crying children.

“Hey! I know!” Amelia exclaimed, once again bouncing in place. “You were in medical school, you could make sure I am okay!”

Katsuko froze. “How--”

“Yay! I don’t have to go to the doctor! Come on!” Amelia began to run to the only car parked in the small lot. Katsuko hastened to follow her, stumbling over the uneven sand.

Amelia was already in the car, seatbelt on. Had Katsuko left the car unlocked? She must have.

The drive home was somehow more pleasant than normal. The car filled with the chattering of Amelia. Katsuko didn’t know how she could do it. There was not one moment of silence as Amelia went on about everything that came to mind. She didn’t seem to care that Katsuko rarely responded. She seemed content in the fact that Katsuko was listening. 

Katsuko was thankful. She wasn’t much of a talker, never had been. Many awkward minutes of silence had come from conversations where people expected her to reply. It wasn’t that she hated the person. Oh no. She was just a very straightforward type, and small talk never had a point.

Amelia, it seemed, thrived on talking. She expressed her wonder at the setting sun and the puppy in the front yard of a house they passed. The darkening clouds amazed her and the drops of rain that began to fall as they reached Katsuko’s apartment made her flinch away from the window, then press her face to the glass and stare up at the sky in curiosity.

She shrieked as the elevator began moving to the third floor completely unsupported from her point of view. Even though they were only on the third floor, the distance to the ground had Amelia babbling.

Everyday items had Amelia squealing and demanding to know how they work. She watched the washer go round and round until Katsuko dragged her away so she could shower.

The shower was a whole ‘nother problem. Amelia loved it. Katsuko knocked on the door after an hour to see if she was alright. Amelia was. 

“I’ve never seen anything like it! It rains on command! And it’s so  _ warm _ ,” She shouted through the door.

The girl’s strange actions had Katsuko thinking. She acted like she had never seen any of the world around her. She wasn’t afraid, more curious. It made Katsuko uneasy how Amelia talked like she was used to nobody listening, how much she liked it when Katsuko would nod her head and pay attention.


End file.
